SBI...AN ORPHAN

State Bank of India (SBI) today said all four managing directors will continue to exercise their respective powers, pending the appointment of a chairman at the country's largest lender. "All managing directors will continue exercising their respective powers as managing director while the financial and administrative powers of the chairman shall be exercised with the approval of the board of directors or management committee of the bank," SBI said in a statement. The arrangement will continue till a chairman is appointed by the government, it said. The post of chairman fell vacant following the retirement of Pratip Chaudhuri yesterday. On September 21, a government-appointed panel interviewed all four SBI managing directors for the post of chairman. It is understood that Arundhati Bhattacharya is the front-runner. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the Prime Minister, had recently suggested that all four SBI MDs should be called for the interview. The ACC comprises of the Home Minister and the administrative ministry in-charge, which in this case is the Finance Ministry. The Finance Ministry had sought exemption in regulatory guidelines so that more candidates could be interviewed for the SBI's top post. As per norms, a candidate for the chairman's post must have at least two years of service left before retirement to qualify for the interview. Going by this rule, only Bhattacharya was eligible. While Bhattacharya, who was recently elevated as MD, will retire in March 2016, Managing Director A Krishna Kumar has one year and three months left before he retires in November next year.